• Business etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon courtesy and politeness between business personnel. Etiquette, and especially business etiquette, is a means of maximising your potential by presenting yourself positively.

• Writing a business letter is not simply a matter of expressing your ideas clearly. The way you write a letter and the etiquette you employ may have a significant impact on your success or failure in business.

• Failure to observe correct business letter etiquette can result in you adopting an inappropriate tone, causing offense or misunderstandings, lack of clarity or purpose and hostility or soured relations.

• The foundation of good business letter etiquette is ‘Think before you write’. You should be considering who the letter is addressed to, how and why? This will then influence style, content and structure.

• Here we cover some of the main issues relating to good business letter etiquette.

• ADDRESSING THE LETTER

• Always make sure you have spelt the recipient’s name correctly. It may sound simple, but you would be surprised at how many people fail to do so. The recipient’s name should include titles, honours or qualifications if necessary.

• Many people use the ‘Dear Sir/Yours Faithfully’ formula when addressing the receiver. Although this is acceptable for routine matters it is impersonal and should not be used when dealing with those you know, queries or complaints. With these the ‘Dear Mr…./Yours Sincerely’ formula should be adopted.

• Once a certain level of familiarity is reached it is not considered bad etiquette to use phrases such as ‘Kind Regards’ or ‘All the best’ at the end of the letter.

• Confidentiality

• If the content of the letter is sensitive, personal or confidential it must be marked appropriately. Marking the letter ‘confidential’ will suffice in highlighting this fact. If you only want the letter read by the receiver without the interception of a secretary or PA, mark it as ‘Private’, ‘Personal’ or ‘Strictly Confidential’. If you have received such a business letter it is good etiquette to reciprocate and ensure that all future correspondence is kept at that level of confidentiality.

• Style

• Proper business letter etiquette requires that a consistent and clear approach, combined with courtesy, be employed. As a rule of thumb, aim to keep all business letters formal in style. Even when the receiver is familiar to you, it is advisable maintain a certain level of business etiquette as the letter may be seen by others or referred to by a third party in the future.

• However, this does not mean you should use long or uncommon words to express yourself. This merely looks odd and makes the letter unreadable. It is best to read a letter first and consider whether you would speak to that person face to face in the same way. If not, then re-write it.

• Letters should be signed personally. It looks unprofessional, cold and somewhat lazy if a letter is left unsigned. However, having a secretary or PA sign on your behalf is not considered a breach of business etiquette.

• Humour

• Humour can be used in business letters but only when the writer is completely positive the recipient will understand the joke or pun. From a business etiquette perspective it may be wise to avoid humour. This is because firstly, the letter may be read during a crisis, after receiving bad news or on a sombre occasion. Any other time the humour may have been appreciated but under these circumstances it may dramatically backfire. Secondly, the written word is open to misinterpretation. Your sarcastic or ironic remark may be taken the wrong way. Thirdly, it is possible that the letter may be read by a third party who may deem the humour inappropriate and pursue a complaint of some sort.

• Responding

• Good business letter etiquette calls for letters to be responded to promptly or within certain guidelines. This may normally be considered as 5 working days. If this is not possible then some sort of acknowledgement should be sent either by letter, fax, phone or e-mail.

• Always use reference numbers or clearly state the purpose of the letter at the top, for example, ‘Re: Business Letter Etiquette Enquiry’.  This allows the receiver to trace correspondence and immediately set your letter within a context.

• When replying to points or questions the proper etiquette is to respond in the same order as they were asked.

• Managing Conflict

• Letters are often an arena for conflicts or disputes. Even in these circumstances there are rules of business letter etiquette that should be adhered to.

• If you initiate the dispute then, 1) Explain and set out your case simply and clearly to the most appropriate person, 2) Offer information that may be required by the other party to help answer questions, 3) Indicate a time scale by which you expect a reply or the matter to be resolved.

• If you are receiving the dispute then 1) inform senior colleagues who may be affected or who may be able to offer assistance, 2) Submit all replies in draft form for a senior colleague to check, 3) Stick to the facts and the merits of the case and do not allow emotions to become involved, 4) Be polite, patient and courteous.

• Using business etiquette in all matters and especially in business letters will ensure you communicate effectively, avoid misunderstandings and maximise your business potential.

• Text f

• Business letters: accentuating the positives

1. Read and retell the text.

• Your letters will be more successful if you focus on positive wording rather than negative, simply because most people respond more favourably to positive ideas than negative ones. Words that affect your reader positively are likely to produce the response you desire in letter-writing situations. A positive emphasis will persuade the reader and create goodwill. In contrast, negative words may generate resistance and other unfavourable reactions. You should therefore be careful to avoid words with negative connotations. These words either deny--for example, NO, DO NOT, REFUSE, and STOP--or convey unhappy or unpleasant associations--for example, UNFORTUNATELY, UNABLE TO, CANNOT, MISTAKE, PROBLEM, ERROR, DAMAGE, LOSS, and FAILURE.

• When you need to present negative information, soften its effects by superimposing a positive picture on a negative one.

1. stress what something IS rather than what it IS NOT.

2. emphasize what the firm or product CAN and WILL DO rather than what it CANNOT.

3. open with ACTION rather than APOLOGY or EXPLANATION.

4. avoid words which convey UNPLEASANT FACTS.

• In addition, you should reemphasize the positive through embedded position and effective use of space.

• Embedded Position. Place GOOD NEWS in positions of high emphasis: at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs, letters, and even sentences.Place BAD NEWS in secondary positions: in the center of paragraphs, letters, and, if possible, sentences.

• Effective Use of Space. Give more space to GOOD NEWS and less to BAD NEWS.

2. Evaluate the examples below to determine whether or not they present negative information favourably.

1. To make the Roanoke more stable than other lamps of this size, our designers put six claw feet instead of the usual four on the base and thus eliminated the need for weighting. Claw feet, as you know, are characteristic of 18th-century design.

2. No special training programs are normally offered other than that of the College Graduate in Training rotational training period. We do not expect our employees to continue their education, but we do have an excellent tuition refund program to assist in this regard (see Working with General Motors, page 8). Where an advanced degree is essential, individuals are recruited with those particular advanced degrees. Both Butler and IUPUI offer courses leading to an MBA degree.

3. With our rigid quality standards, corrections of Adidas merchandise run less than 2 percent of our total line. Because of an oversight in our stitching department, a damaged needle was inadvertently used and caused the threads to come loose in these particular bags. Since we now have a check on all our machine needles before work each day, you can be assured that the stitching on our Adidas carrying bags will last the lifetime of the bags. Thank you for calling our attention to the loose stitching.

4. We are sorry that we cannot furnish the club chairs by August 16.

5. I have no experience other than clerking in my father's grocery store.

6. ABC Dog Biscuits will help keep your dog from getting sick.

3. Compare the examples below. Which would be more likely to elicit positive reader response?

Letter 1

Letter 2

In response to your question about how many coats of Chem-Treat are needed to cover new surfaces: I regret to report that usually two are required. For such surfaces you should figure about 200 square feet per gallon for a good heavy coating that will give you five years or more of beautiful protection.  Penquot sheets are not the skimpy, loosely woven sheets ordinarily found in this price class.  We cannot ship in lots of less than 12.

In response to your question about how many coats of Chem-Treat are needed to cover new surfaces: One gallon is usually enough for one-coat coverage of 500 square feet of previously painted surface.  For the best  results on new surfaces, you will want to apply two coats. Penquot sheets are woven186 threads to the square inch for durability and, even after 3-inch hems, measure a generous 72 by 108 inches.  To keep down packaging costs and to help customers save on shipping costs, we ship in lots of 12 or more.